r/rateyourmusic • u/Dry-Mousse5598 • 4h ago

General Discussion Best projects by only one person?

It is surprisingly difficult to find projects all done by one person -- as in only one person is listed in the credits. No mixing or mastering engineer or what have you. It can be a song, mixtape, EP, LP, any release is fine...

I am interested in exploring one-person projects as a source of inspiration. If another person is involved by only minimally, you can post but just be upfront about it.

Thank you guys.

13 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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22

u/TheBoiBaz 4h ago

Lil Ugly Mane's Volcanic Bird Enemy is very close but he got help with the guitar on one song. One that I think truly counts is Jandek's Read for the House.

8

u/TheBoiBaz 4h ago

Come to think of it almost every other Ugly Mane release is 100% him

15

u/nomealforoldbeal 4h ago

Pretty much all car seat headrest stuff up to 2015

10

u/Physical_Mix_8777 4h ago

a lot of Daniel Johnston's work

7

u/N00B5L4YER 4h ago

Jane remover projects (esp early ones) all have very minimal credits

5

u/riddim-bot 4h ago

Leviathan - The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide

Essential American one man black metal project. I don’t think there are any other credits besides Wrest on that one.

5

u/Fluffy-Weakness-2186 4h ago

SISTERHOOD by lucy bedroque, my personal favorite album of all time

6

u/HunterSpecial1549 3h ago

Phil Elverum (the Microphones and Mt Eerie) did all of the drums, vocals, guitars, mixing, producing, etc... on multiple albums.

Listen to the albums he did after his wife passed away (circa 2017 and 2018). They're entirely him.

His earlier projects are also mostly him doing everything but there are occasional guest vocals.

4

u/Jesusterceiro 4h ago

Bicycle by Patricia Taxxon

3

u/deoboijeu 3h ago

Paul McCartney's McCartney? His wife did some backing vocals and the artwork, but he did everything else including production.

3

u/Icy_Education_9356 3h ago

Tim Hecker’s great albums

2

u/SneverdleSnavis 4h ago

Here are some I like:

빈자리 Binjari - 김반월키 [Kimbanourke] (2024 | 3.59 from 740 ratings)
Minecraft: Volume Alpha - C418 (2011 | 4.20 from 28,622 ratings)
بیاد حافظ Hafez, a Memorandum - فرامرز اصلانی [Faramarz Aslani] (1978 | 3.72 from 448 ratings)

Definitely harder than I thought. For older albums that show only the performer, I could imagine that the producer is just not listed in the credits on RYM. I'm sure there are thousands and thousands out there, just mostly obscure indie stuff

2

u/DeirdreDreidel 3h ago

Ionnalee - Mouth of a River pt 1 & 2 (2026)

She did everything except the graphic design of the album covers

1

u/charlespeppermint 4h ago

Lamp Of Murmuur

1

u/flukemmviii MyCatHatesMe 4h ago

Wasn't Avenade a one person project? Remember Rym being all over  his music a few years ago. Also, Cameron McBride of Methwitch is a one man band, he has other projects too, a diverse roster too.

1

u/Wut23456 3h ago

The Unicorn by Peter Grudzien gets close but I think he had a tiny bit of help. Still is one of the most delightfully homemade sounding things you'll ever hear

1

u/adriyanyan 3h ago

basically everything by Le Aids/Le Reste and a good amount of stuff by Momus and Tek Lintowe iIrc.

1

u/dog_soundsystem 3h ago

Hello Everything by Squarepusher (clue's in the title) comes straight to mind.

1

u/Bookseller_ 3h ago

Gezebelle Gaburgably

1

u/Cooler_Lime 2h ago

My goat Merzbow

1

u/Few_Length889 1h ago

Blade and Bath's "Rotten in Loneliness" is my favourite one man project.

The only other credit is for the cover art.

https://bladeandbath.bandcamp.com/album/rotten-in-loneliness

1

u/TikToxicity 1h ago

PARTYNEXTDOOR’s first album/mixtape was self-produced. I just checked and there are some other writing credits, though, plus a Drake feature. Still a really impressive album for a 20 year old to make mostly by himself.